Building Bachmann City Scenes Hotel III

In the last post about the Bachmann Spectrum hotel, I got the idea to use thin oak as floors in the building, to get rid of that otherwise so empty look.

At each of the upper floors, more oak was added along with a viewblocker to make the hotel seem even less empty.

The glue made the thin oak warp quite a lot, but with the help of several paint jars, the warping was kept down. The floors will not be very visible from the outside, so there was no need to be too careful in the construction.

In order not to take too much light from the ground floor, I removed some of the depth of the balcony on the first floor. Instead I added some potted plants and a gentleman looking onto the street. The figure comes from Preiser, which has several sets of early 20th century Europeans. Many of these figures, especially the men, fit right in to a 1930’s eastern US setting IMO.

At the top floor I placed another Preiser figure, again looking at the street. Perhaps she is a member of staff? The colors of her uniform are the same as the waiter in the restaurant on the ground floor.

A young guest is leaning out of his window. My plan for the building is later to add a scene in front of it, perhaps a new and expensive car arriving with a distinctive motor noise loud enough to make a lot of people look out their windows.

The awnings originally came in dark red plastic, but I painted them a base sand color and drybrushed white vertically on top, giving them a bit of texture and hopefully simulating dirt and soot running down the awnings.
I have added most of the roof details, but the roof still seems a bit too clean for my taste. I wonder if small weeds would grow in the corners of a roof like this? Or perhaps I should just add some more dirt, old newspapers etc?
My favorite part of the roof is the staircase exit. The bricks came in a medium brown color, which I gave a sandcolored wash to simulate the mortar. After that I drybrushed dark brown on top, which I normally do, but also some black for the first time. That really makes the bricks visually different, and I am definately going to do that much more!
Originally there was no entrance to the ledge on the top floor, but I converted one of the windows into a door. I added some old chairs, most likely brought out by members of staff, so they can eat their lunch in the sun!

More details are needed here, like some more mess, a box for table, plants, a soda crate etc. Ideas are more than welcome 🙂
The fire escape was fun and easy to build and now just needs some rust and the bottom ladder. Perhaps another ladder leading to the top floor?

I am still very much in doubt about the back yard. Should it be covered in asphalt or could it be cobblestone? I imagine the hotel is standing in New York or another large Eastern city and was build in the first or second decade of the 20th century.

And how about a loading ramp? Is it needed? And should it be concrete, or perhaps wood? Help! 🙂

I love this part of the building process, adding details and creating stories about what is going on around the building. The next step after the yard will be adding decals, more junk and more weathering before I move on to a new building next to this one…